Zeitgeist: The Gears of Revolution

Nevard's Visions

18

JUL/12

After combat, Nevard shares the full extent of his vision…

“I saw a dark figure, standing atop Cauldron Hill, towering over our city.The sun set, and he cast a shadow across Parity Lake, stretching northwest,into the sea, beyond the horizon. He is born in our city, but his ultimategoal is elsewhere. And also things moved in his shadow—indeed, hisshadow moved before he did, for while he was mighty, he was controlledby others.

“I saw smoke hiding his face, for he was made mighty by industry._ In my vision, a king chased him out to sea and defeated him by slicinghim free from his shadow. But the cauldron had already shattered, andmany thousands were drowned and devoured in its roil.

“I saw three birds alight on the peak, the first of black silk, the secondof black steel, both weeping blood. But the third was made of stars, andit sang many songs.

“I tell you this: Cauldron Hill is not safe. Twice will danger arise, andtwice will we be deceived into thinking it is safe to return, but we mustavoid the place and avoid being tricked. I have arranged shelter in theCloudwood, where people can be safe until the darkness passes.”

Nevard also saw other visions, but is less certain what these mean, so he did not plan to tell them in public.

“A woman sat on a leather couch in a waiting room, surrounded byred curtains. She held a gold coin and rolled it across the back of herfingers. A pick lay against the side of the couch. He asked her what shewas waiting for, and she answered in a language he didn’t know, saying,‘The place I’m going isn’t here yet.’

“A trumpeter carried a lantern onto the stage of a darkened theater,and the people gathered for his performance applauded, then litlanterns of their own. The theater never got bright enough for him tosee their faces.

“One man tore himself in two, and his twin selves fought over a woman,tearing her into three, who ran away. Mice skittered around them, collectingcheese fallen amid the rails of a trainyard. Then a train roared down thetrack past him, but it had no one driving it. In the distance it derailed, andcrushed two of the women, but which of the three survived?

“A man carrying a bronze staff with three keyholes is assailed byswords and arrows and fire, but nothing kills him. He began to take offhis robes, revealing tiger fur beneath them, while stars fell from the skyall around him. Then the sky was dark, and when the sun should haverisen, instead a pale glowing cloud floated in the dark.

“Finally, tyrant and murderer languished in prison, hanging fromtwelve chains and hooks that pierced her feet, her legs, her thighs, hershoulders, her arms, and her hands. But the thirteenth hook that sealedher mouth swung loose, and it fluttered in the breeze as she whispereda map that led everywhere.”